7.  The applicants are relatives. They are:
8.  They live in the village of Gekhi, in the Urus-Martan district of Chechnya.
9.  The first, third and seventh applicants are sisters of Aslanbek Zayndyevich Astamirov (born in 1974). The second applicant is Aslanbek Astamirov’s mother. The fourth applicant is his wife, and the fifth and sixth applicants are their daughters (the sixth applicant was born in March 2003). The seventh applicant is deaf mute. The applicants submitted that their relative Aslanbek Astamirov had suffered from TB for the previous seven years and that he had been in need of regular medical assistance.
10.  The applicants live in their own six-room house at 45 Sheripova Street in the village of Gekhi, in the Urus-Martan district. In the same courtyard there is another house, owned by the family of Aslanbek Astamirov’s brother, Alkha A.
11.  According to the applicants’ submissions, on 5 August 2002 at around 3 a.m. a group of about thirty masked men in blue camouflage uniforms forcibly entered the applicants’ house. The applicants believed that they were servicemen, as they were armed with machine guns and spoke Russian without an accent. The servicemen did not produce identity papers or any documents to justify their actions and gave no explanations.
12.  The fourth applicant submitted that she had been sleeping in the room with her husband, Aslanbek Astamirov, and their daughter, the fifth applicant. The first applicant, Aslanbek Astamirov’s sister, and her two daughters had been in another room, and the second and seventh applicants had been sleeping in another room.
13.  The fourth applicant submitted that she had been woken at 3 a.m. by the sound of Russian being spoken in their courtyard. Then the door to their room opened and four or five men in camouflage and masks, armed with automatic weapons, rushed into the room. They shouted “Lie down” and approached the fourth applicant’s husband. One of the servicemen pushed the fourth applicant against the wall and she fell down. Another serviceman gave her the crying child and ordered her to calm her down and to remain seated.
14.  The men tied Aslanbek Astamirov’s hands behind his back and escorted him out of the room. They took along his slippers, trousers and a shirt. Two men remained in the room and searched it, but did not take anything. One of them found Aslanbek Astamirov’s passport and took it with him. Then the fourth applicant was permitted to come out of her room and into the courtyard, where she saw her sisters-in-law and mother-in-law. The servicemen were leaving and told them to be quiet. About five minutes later the electricity went off in the village and the applicants returned to the house. They submitted that the intruders had remained in their house for about twenty to twenty-five minutes.
15.  The first applicant submitted that about five minutes after the men and her brother had left they had heard the sound of a military Ural truck leaving from the direction of the main road. They did not follow the armed men into the street because there was no electricity and because they were afraid.
16.  The applicants submitted that the following morning the neighbours told them that they had seen an armoured personnel carrier (APC) and a military all-terrain UAZ vehicle in the village. They also submitted that both exits from the village on the main road were controlled by the Russian military and that there was a curfew in place, so no movement of vehicles or of such a large group was possible without the knowledge of the personnel at the roadblocks. The applicants submitted a copy of the published order of the Urus-Martan district military commander no. 263 of 25 September 2001 by which a curfew had been established in the district between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.
17.  The applicants have had no news of Aslanbek Astamirov since 5 August 2002.
18.  The Government in their observations did not challenge most of the facts as presented by the applicants. They stated that it had been established that on 5 August 2002 at about 3 a.m. unidentified men wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with automatic weapons had entered the applicants’ house and taken Aslanbek Astamirov away to an unknown destination. His whereabouts could not be established. The Government objected to the term “servicemen” used by the applicants because in their opinion there were no grounds to believe that the persons who had apprehended Mr Astamirov were servicemen of the Russian Federation.
19.  The Government also disputed the applicants’ reference to the presence of military vehicles on that night. They argued that the statements taken during the investigation from the victims of and witnesses to the crime had not mentioned military vehicles. The Government did not submit copies of any of the statements to which they referred (see below).
20.  Immediately after Aslanbek Astamirov’s abduction the applicants started looking for him. In the morning of 5 August 2002 the first and second applicants, accompanied by Alkha A. and another man, went to Urus-Martan. They approached the district military commander’s office, the head of the district administration and other authorities, but did not find out anything about their missing relative. After that for about two weeks the applicants and their relatives continued to travel daily to Urus-Martan in the hope of finding out about Aslanbek Astamirov, but also in the hope that he would be released because, as the first applicant submitted, they were certain that he had been detained by mistake. The first applicant also submitted that they had been afraid to ask for a criminal investigation because they thought it could have harmed her brother. According to the first applicant, they only submitted an application to the prosecutor’s office two weeks after the arrest.
21.  On numerous occasions, both in person and in writing, the applicants applied to prosecutors at various levels, to the Ministry of the Interior, to the administrative authorities and to public figures. The first applicant went to look at unidentified bodies found in Urus-Martan and in Grozny on several occasions. In the letters to the authorities the applicants stated the facts of Mr. Astamirov’s disappearance and asked for assistance and details of the investigation. Most of these enquiries remained unanswered, and the rest received only formal replies by which the respective requests were forwarded to various prosecutors’ offices “for examination”. The applicants did not retain copies of all the letters, especially during the first months following the apprehension, but they submitted a number of them to the Court. Below is a summary of their correspondence with the authorities.
22.  On 10 November 2002 the second applicant wrote to the Prosecutor General’s Office, to the South Federal Circuit Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office, to the military prosecutor of Chechnya, to the National Public Commission for Investigation of Offences and Protection of Human Rights in the North Caucasus (Национальная общественная комиссия по расследованию правонарушений и соблюдению прав человека на Северном Кавказе) and to the member of the State Duma for Chechnya. She stated the details of her son’s disappearance and asked for assistance in finding him. She stressed that Aslanbek Astamirov was suffering from TB and was in need of medical help. She mentioned that she had applied to the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office but that she had received no news about the missing man.
23.  On 20 November 2002 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office (the district prosecutor’s office) forwarded the second applicant’s complaint to the Urus-Martan district department of the interior (ROVD) for a check.
24.  On 6 December 2002 (or on 1 January 2003 – see below) the district prosecutor’s office opened criminal investigation file no. 34001 into the abduction of Aslanbek Astamirov on 5 August 2002 by unidentified armed persons wearing camouflage uniforms and masks. An investigation was opened into a kidnapping committed by a group under Article 126 part 2 of the Criminal Code.
25.  On 12 December 2002 the Urus-Martan district prosecutor’s office summoned Maret T., the wife of Alkha A., for questioning as a witness.
26.  On 13 January 2003 the first applicant was granted victim status in the criminal investigation into her brother’s abduction.
27.  On 20 January 2003 the military prosecutor of military unit no. 20102 (based in Khankala, the main Russian military base in Chechnya) informed the second applicant that the investigation should be conducted by the local district prosecutor’s office, unless it had been established that servicemen of the Ministry of Defence or of the Interior Troops of the Ministry of the Interior had been implicated in the crime.
28.  On 7 April 2003 the first applicant asked the district prosecutor’s office to provide her with an update on criminal investigation no. 34001 into her brother’s abduction.
29.  On 3 June 2003 the Chechnya prosecutor’s office forwarded a complaint by the fourth applicant of inefficiency of the investigation to the district prosecutor’s office and instructed them to inform the Chechnya prosecutor’s office about the investigation into the abduction.
30.  On 20 June 2003 the district prosecutor’s office informed the SRJI that on 1 March 2003 the investigation in criminal case no. 34001 had been suspended due to failure to identify the culprits. The letter also stated that the ROVD had been instructed to take “active measures” to solve the crime.
31.  On 29 September 2003 the first applicant wrote to the district prosecutor’s office and asked him to grant her access to case file no. 34001.
32.  On 17 December 2003 and on 6 January 2004 the Chechnya prosecutor’s office informed the SRJI, in identical wording, that the criminal investigation into Aslanbek Astamirov’s abduction had been opened by the district prosecutor’s office on 1 January 2003 and suspended on 1 March 2003. On 15 December 2003 the investigation had been reopened and all the necessary steps taken to find Mr. Astamirov and to identify the culprits.
33.  On 16 February 2004 the SRJI requested the Chechnya and the district prosecutors’ offices to clarify if the criminal investigation into the abduction of Aslanbek Astamirov had been opened on 6 December 2002 or on 1 January 2003. They also asked them to inform them about the progress of the investigation.
34.  On 23 June 2005 the SRJI, acting on the second applicant’s behalf, again asked the district prosecutor’s office to give them information about the date on which the criminal investigation had been opened, to inform them about the progress of the proceedings and to allow the second applicant, as a victim, to access the case file.
35.  On 12 July 2005 the district prosecutor’s office informed the second applicant and the SRJI that the investigation into the crime was ongoing and that she could access the case file at that office.
36.  The applicants submitted that they received no further information about the investigation into Aslanbek Astamirov’s abduction and that they were not aware of the exact date on which the case had been opened.
37.  The applicants submitted that as a result of the severe stress following her son’s disappearance the health of the second applicant had deteriorated significantly and that she had often been forced to remain in bed.
38.  In their observations the Government did not dispute the information concerning the investigation of the abduction of Aslanbek Astamirov as presented by the applicants. Relying on information obtained from the General Prosecutor’s Office, they referred to a number of other procedural steps taken by the investigation which had not been mentioned by the applicants. However, despite specific requests from the Court, the Government did not submit copies of most of the documents to which they referred (see below). In reply to the Court’s requests, the Government submitted the following information concerning the progress of the investigation.
39.  The criminal investigation into Mr Astamirov’s abduction had been opened on 1 January 2003 by the district prosecutor’s office.
40.  The first applicant had been questioned by the investigators on 13 January 2003, and then again on unspecified dates. On 13 January 2003 she had been granted the status of a victim in the criminal proceedings related to her brother’s abduction. According to the Government, the first applicant stated that she and other family members had not been subjected to violence and that no valuables had been taken from the house. She also stated that they had not seen the vehicles used by the abductors.
41.  Furthermore, the Government stated that on 28 July 2005 the investigators had questioned and granted victim status to the second applicant, the mother of Aslanbek Astamirov. According to the Government, she stated that she had not applied to the law-enforcement bodies for several months because they had been hoping that her son would come back. She also stated that the abductors had not damaged the door to the house and had not fired any shots.
42.  According to the Government, the fourth applicant was questioned on 9 January 2003. She stated that on 5 August 2002 at about 3 a.m. unknown armed and masked men had burst into their house and taken away her husband. He had been allowed to dress. No valuables had been taken. She was again questioned in July 2006, when she specified that the men who had entered their home and taken away her husband had also taken away his passport and driving licence.
43.  The Government stated that on 10 January 2003 Markha T., Aslanbek Astamirov’s sister-in-law, had been questioned and had confirmed the latter’s abduction.
44.  According to the Government, another family member was questioned in July 2006 and stated that one of the men who had intruded into their house on 5 August 2002 had been armed with a sniper’s rifle. She added that she would be unable to identify any of them since all the men had been wearing masks.
45.  The Government submitted that in March and April 2006 the investigators had questioned at least seven of the applicants’ neighbours, who had stated that on the night in question they had seen a group of armed and masked men walking down Sheripova Street. They had not seen any special vehicles or cars around. Later they had learnt of Aslanbek Astamirov’s abduction. In July 2006 one neighbour was questioned and submitted that on the night of 5 August 2003 he had heard the sound of engines in the street and had seen a group of about ten persons wearing black uniforms and masks and walking along Sheripova Street towards the Astamirovs’ house. The investigators questioned another four neighbours in July 2006, who had not heard anything on that night.
46.  Also in April 2006 the investigators questioned the former head of administration of Urus-Martan district. He stated that he had received a lot of inquiries from relatives of missing persons, but he could not recall the applicants’ case.
47.  According to the Government, the investigators also requested information about Mr Astamirov’s disappearance from various State authorities. On 19 December 2003 the Urus-Martan district department of the Federal Security Service stated that their office had not detained Mr Astamirov nor carried out a criminal investigation into his activities. The Ministry of the Interior of Chechnya also replied on an unspecified date that their agents had not detained the applicants’ relative and had not carried out any investigation in respect of him. Also on unspecified dates all the district departments of the interior in Chechnya informed the investigation that they had never detained or delivered Aslanbek Astamirov to a temporary detention facility. On 4 February 2006 the remand centre in Chechnya IZ-20/1 informed the investigation that the missing man had never been detained there. In April 2006 the pre-trial detention centres of the Southern Federal Circuit informed the investigators that Mr Astamirov had not been detained in any of them.
48.  After April 2006 various bodies of the interior and the headquarters of the United Group Alliance (UGA) informed the investigators that they had no information about a special operation in Gekhi on 5 August 2002.
49.  The investigation failed to establish the whereabouts of Mr Aslanbek Astamirov. The investigation found no evidence to support the involvement of the “special branches” (специальных подразделений) in the crime. The law enforcement authorities of Chechnya had never arrested or detained Mr Astamirov on criminal or administrative charges and had not carried out a criminal investigation in his respect. No special operations had been carried out in respect of the applicants’ relative.
50.  The Government also noted that the investigation had found no grounds to support the fourth applicant’s allegations that she had been ill-treated during the arrest of her husband.
51.  As to the applicants’ complaint about inability to access the case file, the Government noted that the victims had the right to access the materials of the investigation in full after the investigation had been completed. Since the investigation had still been ongoing, and at times had been suspended, the victims could not be granted access to the entire case file. Furthermore, the Government noted that in July 2005 the applicants and their representatives had been invited to access the available documents from the case file at the district prosecutor’s office.
52.  The Government stated that the investigation into the abduction of Aslanbek Astamirov had been suspended and reopened a number of times. The latest decision to reopen the proceedings had been taken on 21 March 2008. The applicants had been duly informed of these developments. The investigation was under the control of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
53.  Despite specific requests by the Court the Government did not submit a copy of the file in criminal case no. 34001, providing only copies of decisions to suspend and resume the investigation and to grant victim status, as well as of the notifications to the applicants of the suspension and reopening of the proceedings. Relying on the information obtained from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Government stated that the investigation was in progress and that disclosure of the documents would be in breach of Article 161 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure, since the file contained information of a military nature and personal data concerning the witnesses or other participants in the criminal proceedings.